Story+1978-08-09+Cleveland,+OH

´´(Kid Leo : ´Good evening and welcome to the WMMS 10th anniversary concert....I´m Kid Leo and I have the, uh, the duty and the pleasure of welcoming, ladies and gentlemen, the main event....round for round, pound for pound, there ain´t no finer band around, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band!´) Oh, gimme some lights!....Leo, he must´ve memorized that at home....I know you did, Cleveland, how you doing? (cheers) are you ready to shake them summertime blues? (cheers)....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Summertime Blues´**

´´Cleveland!....we´ve got our own civil defense network tonight....don´t touch your dial this is not a test!....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Spirit in the Night´**

´´You guys sit down there so everybody can see, alright?....everybody, we got a long haul here so....man, this ? here...is any other light beside that thing?...some lights up here or something, yeah, that´s better....this is for, uh, this is for Jay Cox in Cincinnati and uh....this is for everybody who, uh....ever drove through the darkness on the edge of town....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Darkness on the Edge of Town´**

´´Alright...this is uh....gonna do this for Scott and the guys from Brookpark....you guys...met you guys last night, driving around all night trying to find me (chuckles)....but uh....alright, Danny, gimme the....this is uh....I grew up in a small town, I remember...I used to see my old man twice a day, I used to see him once, once at night when I came in and he’d be sitting in the kitchen in the dark, smoking a cigarette, drinking a six pack of beer....then in the morning, my bedroom was out over the backyard and I could always hear him at six o’clock, popping the hood to one of those 100-dollar junk cars he used to buy, laying on the cold ground trying to get it started to go to work.....and uh, he worked in a factory and his father did, I wrote this song for him....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Factory´**

´´Hey, what?....you want an autograph?!?....I´m in the middle of working here....the price of fame, I tell you, dollar 99 (chuckles)....back, back in Asbury Park, there´s a....there´s these two roads, there´s Kingsley Avenue and Ocean Avenue and they form sort of an oval....on Friday nights they´re burning about half the gas in the United States between stoplights down there....but outside of town there´s this little fireroad, that´s where we go racing in the street ....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Racing in the Street´**

´´Last summer me and Steve and these two friends of ours, we drove out to Salt Lake City, Utah and we bought this used Ford, drove it down to Reno and uh....we were out along the desert someplace and just off the road there was this house that this Indian had sculptured from stuff that he’d scavenged all off the desert and out in front he had a, had a big sign, had a big picture of Geronimo, it said ‘Landlord’ over top of it....and then he had the big white sign that said ‘This is the land of peace, love, justice and no mercy’ and it pointed down this dirt road that said ‘Thunder Road’....´´
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Thunder Road´**

´´Alright, round two....in this corner, weighing in at 260 pounds....the master of the disaster, the Big Man, Clarence Clemons.....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Paradise by the C´**

´´Winner by a knockout....(?) minute of the first round....this was a song, was on, uh, Robert Gordon´s second album....this is called ´Fire´....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Fire´ (following ´Paradise by the C´)**

´´This next song, this is a song that, uh.....we first, uh, wrote about, let me see, beginning of last summer, and it was gonna be on Darkness but....it didn´t make it and uh....this is a song, no, it´s a song that like during the early 60´s there´s, there´s was this kind of music not widely known but it was, uh, it was called Fraternity Rock....and you don´t know what that is, now Fraternity Rock, that was like ´Louie Louie´, that was like ´Farmer John´ by the Premiers, that was a song by the Swinging Medallions called ´Double Shot of My Baby´s Love´... that was, no hits up here, right (chuckles) it was like, anyway, the big, the big thing that these records had, you see, the (?) was that on it the audience was at least twice as loud as the band, you see, it´s like (cheers) you got (chuckles)....I think you got the idea....so when Clarence holds up the ´applause´-signs, no, I mean when you feel it (chuckles) when it, when it moves you (chuckles) it´s like, the idea is, uh, this is called ´Sherry Darling´, it should´ve been a single, it should´ve been released in the summertime so, uh....so what we need is we need a lot of party noises to start the song, here we go (cheers) Cleveland boys, a little party noise (cheers) alright....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Sherry Darling´**

´´Vomiting in your girl´s purse was allowed during that last number, alright? (chuckles).....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´She´s the One´ (following ´Sherry Darling´)**

´´I wrote this song in 1971, I think....Roy....it was....it was....I remember I was 12 years old ....one....and I was going to this Catholic school and I got sent home for pissing in my desk (cheers) obviously, a popular pastime, right (chuckles) and the Sisters told my mother that I needed psychiatric attention (chuckles) and so my mother....the only people that were more scared of the nuns than the kids was the parents, you know, yeah, I remember my old man and my old lady, they were terrified of them Sisters so downtown they take me to this doc .....and, uh....I´m sitting down there on the couch and he says ´Son, how did you get this way?´ I thought about it and I said ´Doc, I'm glad you asked because....up to now I've kept it a secret but the fact was.....I was a teenage werewolf ´....I said ´Doc, I was out in the street, I remember it was midnight, I looked up....there was a full moon, I felt this hair growing all over my face....I felt my fingers get longer and my nails pop out and a guitar pop out of my left side....my pants got tighter and my hair got longer, a man with a cigar come up and stung me on the ass....and (chuckles) and all of sudden....in one moment I looked up and there was this light....and for just one second... I stood stone like at midnight... (....) And I remember....it was years later....I grew up, I came home from high school one day....the old man was sitting at the kitchen table with the old lady....and they´re looking pretty serious, they said ´Son, sit down, please".....so I knew I was in trouble ´cause they called me ´Son´....the other stuff they used to call me I can't say over the radio (chuckles) but, uh (chuckles) so, anyway, I sit down....and my mother, she does the talking, she's the Italian, right.....she says ´It´s time, we decided, me and your father, we decided you gotta stop fooling around with yourself´....how'd they know what I was doing in my room at night?....they said ´You gotta get serious, it´s like (chuckles) it´s, uh....it´s time that you put that guitar down, that thing´s ok for a hobby but you´re never gonna get anyplace with that´.... and my father said ´You should be a lawyer because lawyers, they own the world´ and my mother, she said ´You should be an author, you should write books´ so....they said ´But we decided this is too big a decision, what you gotta do you gotta go over to the rectory, you gotta talk to Father Ray about your vocation, we set up an appointment, you gotta go over there in an hour´....´cause that's the thing they used to do in those days....so I go over to the rectory, oh, before I went over there, my father says ´Now, when you go talk to the priest, you tell him you wanna be a lawyer, you tell him you wanna be an author but don't you tell him nothing about that goddamn guitar....I said ´Ok, ok ´, I go over to the priest's house, I ring on the doorbell, ´Father Ray, this is Mr. Springsteen's son, I´ve come to talk to you about my vocation´ so he comes out and we start walking around the church and, uh, they all, the priests in those days, they all had like illusions of The Bells of St. Mary´s, they´d seen that movie too many times or something, they´re all doing Patrick O'Brien, is that his name? Pat O'Brien imitations and like....we talked for a while and he says ´Listen, I decided ....that this decision is too big for me to make; what you gotta do you gotta go direct to God, you gotta talk to God about this....now, you tell Him you wanna be a lawyer, you tell Him you wanna be an author....but don't tell Him nothing about (a woman yells) what? an interior decorator? (chuckles) that's you? (chuckles) but don't you tell Him nothing about that goddamn guitar´....I said ´Ok, ok´ so I figured I gotta go see God and all I have to go see Him in was my mother's Rambler, was all beat up, all smashed up, paint scraped off the side so I drive over to Clarence's house.....I say ´Clarence....I got the word, I gotta go see God tonight´, he says ´Well, you can´t go in that car.....´So what do you mean I can't go in this, it's the only car I got´, he says ´That thing is, thing´s ugly as hell, it's like, you think He's gonna see you in that car?....there's gonna be guys up there with Monte Carlos, Lincolns, Continentals, you think He's gonna notice you?´....I said ´Ok, ok´ so I went down to Earl Scheib....at the time it was 39.95, I went by the other day, I seen that Earl since upped it ten bucks (chuckles) but anyway, he does the car, midnight blue, I leave the windows down, he does the interior for free....if I had my brother in the back seat, he had done him free of charge too, it´s like (chuckles)....anyway, me and Clarence we drive out to see God, Clarence says he knows where He is.... so we get out there and I don't see nothing but this dark hill next to this cemetery....I say ´Clarence, uh....are you sure He´s up there?´ (Clarence says something) ´You sure it ain't (chuckles) you sure it ain't, you sure it ain't the other guy? this is the right place?´....and while I´m up there what? ask him about? the tape player that somebody stole out of your room´....so I had these two big questions I had to ask, about Clarence's tape player and what I´m gonna do with my life....so up the hill I go and it's dark and it's scary, all these noises coming out of the woods (cheers) and when I got to the top I realised that the place was packed, there was people all over the place....I'm walking around ....I bump into Kid Leo!.... go ´Kid, what are you doing ?´, he says ´Praying for more watts .....I gotta blast this baby all the way to New Jersey´....crazy man up there....so I find myself a quiet place, I kneel down, I say ´God, my father wants me to be a lawyer, my mother wants me to be an author but I got this guitar, you see?´....and all of a sudden....I heard this thunder (Max pounds the drums) seen this lightning coming out of the sky....it was real quiet for a while....and then I heard just three words.....´LET IT ROCK!´....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Growin´Up´**

´´I wanna do this next song for Joey and Jimmy, Cleveland boys, these guys, they've been following me around for about three years....now get off my back, will you, huh? (chuckles) this is for them ´cause I love ´em so much.... (....) Hello, baby....my, it´s good to have....it´s good to have you back again....and you´re still looking fine....and honey, I remember you....baby, I remember you....standing on the corner ....of Richmond Avenue....with your hair up high and that crazy look in your eye at every boy that was passing you by....and baby´s looking fine....baby´s looking fine....and I swore, back then I swore....that I would drive all night, anytime anyplace....I´d drive all night, anytime anyplace....I´d drive all night, anytime anyplace....just to buy you some shoes....and to taste your tender charms....to have you hold me in your arms....baby, for just one kiss....and a look from your sad eyes....you had such lonely sad eyes.....you had such lonely sad eyes....I remember how they cried all night long.....baby, how they cried all night long....I remember how they cried all night long....I remember how they cried....oh, they cried....and me, I was your fool....I thought somehow that I could stop all of your crying.....thought I could stop, little girl, your crying....I thought I could stop, little girl, your crying....I thought I could stop, little girl, your crying....but I didn't know....only you knew....that baby´d been lying.....baby´d been lying....little girl, you´d been lying....you were so young and you could tell such pretty lies....you were so young and you could tell such pretty lies....but I can´t cry for you any more.....little girl, I can´t cry for you any more....I can´t cry for you any more....and now you´re back....now you´re back.....well, baby, I´m back too....and I've been out....and I've been seeing some things....about me....about you.....and little girl, you've got to stop....baby, you've got to stop....oh, we've got to stop....little girl, we've got to stop.....baby, you've got to stop, little girl, we've got to stop, baby, we've got to stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP!....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, middle of ´Backstreets´**

´´Ah, in whatever city she rests tonight....Rosie, come on out !..... (....) Ladies and gentlemen....at the far left of the stage....boy wonder, understudy of Arthur Rubinstein and the only member of the band with a high school diploma, Professor Roy Bittan....play it, Prof (Roy plays)....and on the guitar....poet of the soul, master of rock and roll, the man who brought you such great hits as ´I Don´t Wanna Go Home´, ´Sweeter than Honey´, ´This Time It´s For Real´....Miami Steve Van Zandt....on the bass guitar....Mr.Garry W. Tallent (Garry plays) into his own thing.....on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg..... representing everybody from Northern New Jersey, Mr.Dan Federici on the organ....last but not least....king of the world, master of the universe....the Big Man himself....Clarence Clemons (the band goes into ´Macho Man´) I was afraid of that....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Rosalita´**

´´This is for all the, uh....dislocated easterners....folks from the Jersey Shore....haven't been home in about two summers...this is Fourth of July in Asbury Park....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Sandy´**

´´I´d like to, like to thank all you guys for coming down and I´d like to....you know, to thank all the people that sent in all the cards and there was a whole mess of ´em....and uh, I just wanna let you know that it´s appreciated, I´d like to thank Cleveland for supporting us, like this was one of the first towns that we came in....you got....we first came here, WE GOT SOME RESPECT ! (chuckles) here´s thanks to the Kid and WMMS....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Born to Run´**

´´Can you stand one more? (cheers)....are you sure? (cheers) oh, alright, get rid of the echo ....a speaker´s talking to me here, what?....everything´s blowing up here (?) Miami Steve.... (....) Alright....I want everybody in Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Columbus, Chicago, Detroit, St.Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland....get up, walk over to your radio and turn it up as loud as it´ll go, open the windows, play it until the cops come, if they bang on your door, send all complaints to Kid Leo care of WMMS....if they still won´t go away, tell ´em that if there´s something they need....if there´s something they want....they've got to raise their hands....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Raise Your Hand´**

´´Here´s the first song I ever learned how to play on the guitar....”
 * 09.08.78 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´Twist and Shout´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//